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Election Day
Nov. 7th, 2006 09:34 amOh, Election Day. I have many things to say. I was gonna leave it alone, but I don’t have the self-discipline. I pick scabs too. Criticism all around…
My friends list is not monolithic. Many of you are apolitical, you may even be the majority. Then there are anarchists, liberals, libertarians (because this is an online community) even a few Republicans. Then there’s all you folks in countries that have a history of oppositional politics and who’s countries meet the minimum standard s of modern government, you know, universal health care and social service safety nets. You all may wanna sit this one out.*
I’ve never understood the anarchist "boycott the vote" way of thinking. I mean, they’re my peeps, but spending energy (not that much energy was ever spent on this except for graffiti, sticker-making and writing poorly written essay in the anarchist press) getting people not to vote. Fetishize the Spanish Revolution** all you want, envision the unions in this country coming to consensus with all the workers (who are now somehow suddenly in unions, btw) to show that the system is rotten and should be ignored to death. Imagine the power of being so organized and unified that the government would have to deal with our sheer numbers. But the bearing that has on reality is the same bearing that whatever pervy fantasies*** you have in the bedroom (or wherever) have on the population at large. None. And for the record, the well-organized, successful, union-lead, boycott of the vote lead to such a repressive regime in Spain in 1934 that the anarchists decided not to boycott the vote in 1936. The (Spanish) Republicans won that election , which lead to the fascist coup and workers’ revolution.
I also do think it’s a position borne of privilege. This can be emotionally over-hyped but pushing for people not to vote when other people, most of them poor and Black, were dying in the streets for the right to vote in my lifetime at the very least seems like a breach of solidarity. Personally, I like to think I’m on the same side as the Civil Rights Movement. Even if one doesn’t want to give aid and comfort to the evil that is the US government by voting, voting "No" is an effective tactic. Even if you are a Californian anarchist who is just going to vote "No" on 83, 85, and 90 this year’s most evil Propositions, you’ve done a good thing. If it makes you feel better, vote against all the judges too.
But don’t think I’m a Democrat . All this self-congratulation about the possibility of taking back the house and senate ignored the fact that it will be by such a slim margin that there is no guarantee that they will "stand up to Bush". In fact, all recent evidence would show that they probably wouldn’t. I mean, why should they? A fair number of those folks are ex-Republicans, anti-choice, and never questioned their position in the class war (on top). It’s not a bad strategy for winning the election, but even though party line voting is the backbone of representative democracy the Democrats haven’t historically been able to master that basic skill. Personally I prefer a government with divided powers so I do want the Democrats to take the elections but let’s not fool ourselves and think that many of the most evil laws that were passed in the last 6 years wouldn’t have passed anyway. The Democrats hate our freedom almost as much as the Republicans.
Libertarians and Republicans, I don’t know what to say to you. Sorry.
Let’s remember what election day is. One day. Anyone who says that you don’t get to have a say if you don’t vote is obviously someone’s dupe or just repeating what they’ve been told. I don’t understand the opposition to voting, especially in San Francisco where there are polling places every couple of blocks, but casting a vote isn’t very important in the long run, it’s what one does with the other 364 days of the year. Organized mass political organizations are the only thing that’s ever changed the politics of this country for the better. That’s why the Democrats policies now (except for a few issues) are much further to the right than that of Republicans during Nixon’s presidency. If you want a more recent example, the Nurse’s Union in California ran a huge campaign against the Governor here during the special election he called last year for his pet ballot measures. Not only was he defeated in every ballot but he was so embarrassed and floundering that he actually signed the best Global Warming legislation in the country. Sure it was also a hedge against 87, and defeated Angelides before the election even started, but it shows that organized opposition , not just a get out the vote campaign, can produce positive results. But the bottom line here is that joining and supporting a union in your workplace is much more radical than going and dropping a ballot in the box.
And if you live in SF vote Yes on H and for Chris Daly in District 6 (unfortunately I’m about 3 blocks out of District 6). Daly might be kind of a jerk, but he’s mostly a jerk to people with more power than him so I think it’s amusing. Also there’s a long history of that in San Francisco politics which we should support. Who needs civility in politics during a Civil War? Rob Black is an empty suit funded by big business interests who will blow away after this election if he loses.
*It wasn’t their fault, but when I visited Germany in the early ‘90s some nice artsy post-anarchist said, "Do you have as many homeless people as we do in Berlin?" The only response to that really is, "Shut the fuck up!"
**all arguments with anarchist eventually lead back to the Spanish Revolution of 1936, just fyi.
***This shouldn’t be read as a diss of pervy fantasies
My friends list is not monolithic. Many of you are apolitical, you may even be the majority. Then there are anarchists, liberals, libertarians (because this is an online community) even a few Republicans. Then there’s all you folks in countries that have a history of oppositional politics and who’s countries meet the minimum standard s of modern government, you know, universal health care and social service safety nets. You all may wanna sit this one out.*
I’ve never understood the anarchist "boycott the vote" way of thinking. I mean, they’re my peeps, but spending energy (not that much energy was ever spent on this except for graffiti, sticker-making and writing poorly written essay in the anarchist press) getting people not to vote. Fetishize the Spanish Revolution** all you want, envision the unions in this country coming to consensus with all the workers (who are now somehow suddenly in unions, btw) to show that the system is rotten and should be ignored to death. Imagine the power of being so organized and unified that the government would have to deal with our sheer numbers. But the bearing that has on reality is the same bearing that whatever pervy fantasies*** you have in the bedroom (or wherever) have on the population at large. None. And for the record, the well-organized, successful, union-lead, boycott of the vote lead to such a repressive regime in Spain in 1934 that the anarchists decided not to boycott the vote in 1936. The (Spanish) Republicans won that election , which lead to the fascist coup and workers’ revolution.
I also do think it’s a position borne of privilege. This can be emotionally over-hyped but pushing for people not to vote when other people, most of them poor and Black, were dying in the streets for the right to vote in my lifetime at the very least seems like a breach of solidarity. Personally, I like to think I’m on the same side as the Civil Rights Movement. Even if one doesn’t want to give aid and comfort to the evil that is the US government by voting, voting "No" is an effective tactic. Even if you are a Californian anarchist who is just going to vote "No" on 83, 85, and 90 this year’s most evil Propositions, you’ve done a good thing. If it makes you feel better, vote against all the judges too.
But don’t think I’m a Democrat . All this self-congratulation about the possibility of taking back the house and senate ignored the fact that it will be by such a slim margin that there is no guarantee that they will "stand up to Bush". In fact, all recent evidence would show that they probably wouldn’t. I mean, why should they? A fair number of those folks are ex-Republicans, anti-choice, and never questioned their position in the class war (on top). It’s not a bad strategy for winning the election, but even though party line voting is the backbone of representative democracy the Democrats haven’t historically been able to master that basic skill. Personally I prefer a government with divided powers so I do want the Democrats to take the elections but let’s not fool ourselves and think that many of the most evil laws that were passed in the last 6 years wouldn’t have passed anyway. The Democrats hate our freedom almost as much as the Republicans.
Libertarians and Republicans, I don’t know what to say to you. Sorry.
Let’s remember what election day is. One day. Anyone who says that you don’t get to have a say if you don’t vote is obviously someone’s dupe or just repeating what they’ve been told. I don’t understand the opposition to voting, especially in San Francisco where there are polling places every couple of blocks, but casting a vote isn’t very important in the long run, it’s what one does with the other 364 days of the year. Organized mass political organizations are the only thing that’s ever changed the politics of this country for the better. That’s why the Democrats policies now (except for a few issues) are much further to the right than that of Republicans during Nixon’s presidency. If you want a more recent example, the Nurse’s Union in California ran a huge campaign against the Governor here during the special election he called last year for his pet ballot measures. Not only was he defeated in every ballot but he was so embarrassed and floundering that he actually signed the best Global Warming legislation in the country. Sure it was also a hedge against 87, and defeated Angelides before the election even started, but it shows that organized opposition , not just a get out the vote campaign, can produce positive results. But the bottom line here is that joining and supporting a union in your workplace is much more radical than going and dropping a ballot in the box.
And if you live in SF vote Yes on H and for Chris Daly in District 6 (unfortunately I’m about 3 blocks out of District 6). Daly might be kind of a jerk, but he’s mostly a jerk to people with more power than him so I think it’s amusing. Also there’s a long history of that in San Francisco politics which we should support. Who needs civility in politics during a Civil War? Rob Black is an empty suit funded by big business interests who will blow away after this election if he loses.
*It wasn’t their fault, but when I visited Germany in the early ‘90s some nice artsy post-anarchist said, "Do you have as many homeless people as we do in Berlin?" The only response to that really is, "Shut the fuck up!"
**all arguments with anarchist eventually lead back to the Spanish Revolution of 1936, just fyi.
***This shouldn’t be read as a diss of pervy fantasies
